Fixture

Old Penarthians v CIACS Match Report

Saturday 5th December 2015

After the soaking the week before the afternoon at Cwrt-y-vil for the Old Penarthians home fixture with CIACS in WRU National League 3 East Central (C) was a very different affair.  There may have been a stiff south-westerly blowing and the pitch may have been a bit heavy but there was no sign of rain for which everyone was thankful, not least players.

The players’ attitudes were however a continuation of the positive that saw them defeat Ferndale and go top of the division last weekend.  A well-attended training session at the new facilities at St Cyres under coaches Simon Hurley and Anthony Davies emphasised some of the fundamentals and a strong team took to the field confident that they could repeat the early season fifty plus point victory over the CIACS.

The CIACS team were however a stronger proposition this time around and after sustaining a fair amount of pressure Old Pens managed to use the advantage of the wind at their backs to create some territory.  From a scrum, that was again dominant, the forwards created a platform that eventually saw a drive of fifteen metres and the referee award a penalty try.  Jon Crimp converted and after 15 minutes Penarthians led 7 – 0.

That may have been a try for the forwards led by the front row of Dale Norris, Richie Dighton and Sam Hall but the next was a team affair when Joel deClaire initially stole an opposition line out.  Gareth Clancy threw a poor pass but it was picked up by flanker Matt Allen who burst through a potentially dangerous tackle to pass to Crimp.   In turn he passed to Naylor who ran an angle to the touchline and at the last moment passed inside to winger Charles Gore who crossed the tryline unopposed.  Crimp converted.

On 25 minutes a drive by centre Rhys Lakin was stopped but he managed to offload to Chris Cobbold who was also stopped just short of the tryline.  The forwards were there in numbers and from a short off-load pass from Tom Sidford, Norris crashed over from three metres.  Crimp converted.
The ensuing kick-off was well caught by Sidford and the ball was kicked into CIACS territory.  The return kick was held by deClaire on his own 22.  The threequarters then received the ball and Lloyd Davey gave the final pass to Chad Wilson who ran in to score from 55m.

From the next kick off a very similar scenario was played out but on this occasion Davey decided to kick rather than pass and an opportunity was lost.  It was however a momentary lapse because further good three-quarter play again led by Lakin resulted in an attacking five metre scrum.  This time the drive went over the line and deClaire dropped on the ball to score.  Crimp maintained his 100% record and the half time score was 35 – 0.

At the start of the second half Old Penarthians again pressed the CIACS defence and strong runs by Wilson and Gore carried play to a lineout to the visitors on their own five metre line.  The line out was stolen by deClaire and from a tight maul Alun Haines dropped over the line to score.

At this point Old Penarthians made some substitutions with Mark Sadler introduced and Luke Crockett given a debut.  During the course of the half Tony Kemp, Craig Haines and Danny Godfrey were also given game-time to ensure that all the players were able to show their abilities as part of the squad.
It was however the referee who was to play an important part in the rest of the match as initially he gave a yellow card to a CIACS player before ordering two Penarthians players from the field for ten minute rests for repeat infringements at the breakdown.  Then before the home team were back to full strength he gave a red card to the same CIACS player for a dangerous late tackle.

These disruptions did not allow the fluidity of the first half to return and it was only some strong sustained tackling from Old Pens on their own tryline that prevented CIACS from scoring.

One last attack with Sadler, Gore and Crimp prominent did however see Cobbold wriggle over for a try when it appeared he may have come up short for the second time and on 35 minutes the conversion from Crimp brought an end to the scoring and a final result of 47 – 0.

This result sees Old Penarthians on top of the table by seven points from Hirwaun who defeated Cardiff Saracens in their fixture.

On the second team pitch a strong Dinas Powis team, featuring many former first XV players, defeated a committed Old Penarthians team by 36 - 0.  
Next Saturday the 1st XV entertain Whitchurch in a re-arranged league fixture whilst the seconds travel to Cardiff Quins.  Both games are scheduled to kick off at 2.30pm.